Thirteen years ago, Catholic school students that now stroll around college campuses sat in tiny desks, practiced their multiplication tables and counted down the seconds until recess.  

For these students, almost everything has changed since those grade-school days: friends, hobbies, U.S. political leaders, even technology. 

But one thing has remained constant: the papacy of Pope Francis.  

These students have grown up in a Catholic Church shaped and formed by Pope Francis’ compassionate leadership style, social-justice-focused encyclicals and sometimes-controversial, off-the-cuff remarks.  

With the Holy Father’s passing Easter Monday, these young people are grateful for the way his leadership style has shaped their relationship with the Church.  

Leader of the Church 

Rome is a far cry from rural Idaho, especially for a 19-year-old.  

Five years ago, Maddie Rehder, now a 24-year-old counseling graduate student at the University of Mary in Bismarck, North Dakota, found herself in St. Peter’s Square, surrounded by thousands of other people anxiously awaiting Pope Francis’ annual Wednesday general audience.  

“Standing there in St. Peter’s Square made me realize that the world is so much bigger than I thought. It is so much bigger than rural Idaho or North Dakota,” the Gem State native told the Register. “Seeing Pope Francis showed me the universality of the Church, that we’re not so different from one another, that we all have the same end goal in mind: to get to heaven.” 

“It was just really special getting to be in the presence of the Holy Father,” she added. 

Many young people, such as Jude Healey, a 21-year-old political science and theology major at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas, were inspired by Pope Francis’ leadership style.  

“Many popes have not talked about the things that he talked about,” adding that Pope Francis lived without “many of the common papal luxuries, like the summer residence, and I think that detachment has appeal against the modern age.”  

“Pope Francis has done plenty of good and definitely transformed our vision of what we think the papacy to be and has been an example of how to be a good leader and hold a high office,” he added. 

More so, Pope Francis’ charismatic, joyful personality was a profound witness for many young people.  

John Paul Quejada, a 19-year-old philosophy and theology senior at the Franciscan University of Steubenville, Ohio, shared that, by observing Pope Francis over the years of his papacy, he learned that joy is essential for the Christian life.  

“I have a more melancholic temperament, so often I am more tempted to be very serious, to be very straight-laced and think of the Church as a stronghold holding down against the world,” Quejada said. “Watching Pope Francis has helped me to take myself less seriously, and he has helped me remember that the Gospel is a Gospel of joy of life.”  

Compassion Crash Course 

One such lesson that Pope Francis taught Quejada is how to suffer well. About a year ago, Quejada attended a Wednesday general audience and was struck by the Pope’s endurance despite being confined to a wheelchair.  

“It was beautiful to see how the world [didn’t] love Pope Francis because he’s some big, strong dude full of health, but because [he was]  our spiritual father, persevering in the midst of health struggles, in the midst of difficulties,” Quejada said. “It was powerful to see that — the way that he carried himself, despite his suffering, despite his health issues. He still had such great joy during the audience.”  

Stateside, Pope Francis has never been far from Quejada. In his theology and philosophy classes, Quejada frequently comes across the Pope’s writing, which call him to go beyond himself.  

“Pope Francis’ encyclical Amoris Laetitia really struck me, as it focuses on love, especially for the poorest among us, for the most vulnerable, for immigrants,” Quejada said. “It has just been really beautiful to reflect on that encyclical, as I think there’s often this temptation that I face to make the faith something that is very serious,” adding that Pope Francis reminded us “that love and service breaks us out of ourselves to live joyfully.” 

For Rehder, Pope Francis’ writings and speeches exemplified his spirit of compassion and the love that he had for the Church.  

“Whenever I’ve read any of his writings or listened to him speak, I just hear his compassion, and everything that I’ve read of his is pretty excellent and has moved me deeply,” Rehder said. “You can just tell [his] genuine love for the Church.”  

When Healey first read Francis’ Laudato Si, he reread passages, struck by the Pope’s words.  

“I am the president of Benedictine’s eco stewardship club so reading Laudato Si has been very helpful,” Healey said. “Although there’s plenty of instances where Pope Benedict XVI spoke about the environment, it seems like Pope Francis was the first pope to really notice the cry of the Earth and its relation to the cry of the poor.”  

“That encyclical I think was the perfect way of starting to bridge this gap between the environment and those that live on the fringes of society.” 

Off-the-Cuff Comments 

While most of the Pope’s writings have been well received, the Francis pontificate was no stranger to controversy. Whether it be the Pope’s in-flight press conferences or larger press conundrums like Fiducia Supplicans, controversy was a common occurrence, especially in recent years.  

These college students have had a front-row seat, as they have plenty of professors or friends to discuss the newest developments with.  

“It’s hard for me not to think of the Pope without thinking of controversy,” Healey said.  

On multiple occasions, Healey has found himself asking his friends to help him understand the Pope’s comments.  

“Whenever you start reading the documents that he’s released, or statements that he’s given, they’ve often been vague,” Healey said. “Oftentimes I’ve been in circles, discussing and asking: ‘What did the Pope mean today?’”  

While these statements sometimes caused confusion, they have led many young people to explore the issues, helping them to learn more about the faith and the teachings of the Church, leading to “good conversations about what the Church teaches and what the Holy Father really said,” Rehder said. 

Through these conversations, Rehder and other college students have come to learn that, often, this confusion stemmed from media outlets misreporting the Pope’s statements and writing.  

“I think the people that are a little more hesitant about the Pope often have not actually read a whole lot of what he’s written or said directly,” Rehder said. “It seems their judgments are based on what they’ve read in the media, which can often misconstrue the Pope’s words.”  

‘A Father, a Shepherd’ 

These college students have seen the “Francis effect” spread beyond their own lives and college campuses. When interacting with fallen-away Catholics or nonbelievers, they have seen the influence that Pope Francis has had on the secular world. 

“I have a lot of family members who are not Catholic and agnostic, and through conversation with them, they have expressed how much they like Pope Francis. I think, to a lot of people who are again on the fringes, it shows that the Catholic Church is not just this old, decrepit, theo-political machine that is sliding into oblivion,” Healey said.  

“Pope Francis has shown that the Church is still relevant, and the Church still does play a pivotal role on the national stage.”  

But as these students prepare to begin careers and families, they carry with them the lessons they have learned from the late Pope, lessons that they hope will help them to reach people in need with Christ’s witness. 

“When I begin serving people as a counselor, I hope to emulate the Holy Father’s humility and his way of zooming out to focus on the bigger world,” Rehder said. “Like Pope Franics, I hope to be able to really keep in mind those who are on the margins, those who are suffering.”  

Growing up in the American Church, Quejada often struggled to grasp the universality of the Church. For him, Pope Francis served as not just a connection point to the global Church, but also as a father figure and a leader to look to for guidance.  

“Pope Francis has been a father, a shepherd, who has been present as I have grown up and begun to find my place in the Church. He has been a constant reminder that the Church is so much bigger than myself and that it is so much bigger than my little community of believers. He has been a father to me, in so far as he has been present as I have grown up in the Church. 

“His leadership has shown me that the Church is far bigger, far more diverse, far more beautiful than I first understood.”